What is the best translation of the Bible? That depends on how you plan on using your Bible. Some translations are better for study, others for personal devotional reading and others for worship.

Below is a list of translations put together by www.christianbook.com that presents the reading level required to understand the particular translation. Also you can visit bible.gospelcom.net to search for a bible passage.

I have also included a chart provided by christianbooks.com which lists all the translations of the Bible today on a scale from the most literal translation (closest to the original Greek and Hebrew) to the most free translation.

Hope this helps and encourages you to select the Bible translation that best meets your needs.

Bible Translations Reading Levels

Sometimes, it helps to know what the approximate reading level is for a given translation. Here’s a quick and easy guide for the most popular translations:

Translation

Grade Level

Translation

Grade Level

KJV

12th

NIV

7th-8th

RSV

12th

NKJV

7th

NASB

11th

NLT

6th

NRSV

11th

Message

4th-5th

ESV

10th

NCV

3rd

HCSB

9th-10th

NIRV

3rd

A literal translation or formal equivalent seeks to represent the original Greek and Hebrew in a more word for word manner. Many prefer this method because, they are assured that each English word is represented by a Greek or Hebrew word, not some expansion or interpretation by the translator(s). Some literal translations include: the KJV (King James Version ), the RSV (Revised Standard Bible), the NAS (New American Standard Bible), the NAS ’95 Update (New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition), and the NKJV (New King James Version).

A paraphrase or free translation is one which is not as concerned with original word order or sentence structure as it is the idea of the passage. This type of translation seeks to render the ideas in the original text as accurately as possible in the target language (like English). Some examples in this category are: The Philips translation (the New Testament in Modern English), the LB (the Living Bible), and the Message (by Eugene Peterson).

A dynamic equivalent is a translation that seeks to strike a balance between the two mentioned above. The goal of this type of translation is to render the idea conveyed by the original language into that of the target language (like English). Some examples in this category would be the NIV (New International Version), NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), and the NAB (New American Bible).